Bastards Out Of Carolina, Continued

Down in the newly insane state of North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory joined Chief Justice John Roberts in the Day Of Jubilee by signing one of the most restrictive voter-suppression laws since the days when black voters had to count the beans in the jar, or recite the Alabama state constitution backwards and in Latin. To nobody's surprise, this has occasioned a gaggle of lawsuits.

Just hours after McCrory signed the bill, two separate lawsuits challenging the law were filed in federal court in Greensboro. A third lawsuit is expected to be filed in state court Tuesday. Congressman G.K. Butterfield also asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to "take swift and decisive action by using any legal mechanisms" to protect North Carolina's voting rights. "With one stroke of the pen, McCrory has effectively reversed 30 years of progress and reinstated practices similar to the discriminatory 'Southern Strategy' adopted by the Republican Party in the '60s and '70s," said Butterfield, a former N.C. Supreme Court justice. "Without question, today is a shameful day for Republicans in North Carolina."

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What makes this alarming, and what makes the Roberts's Day of Jubilee even more laughable, is McCrory's argument that all North Carolina has done is keep up with other states that have determined through their Republican-majority legislatures to limit the franchise -- which, coincidentally, of course, will ultimately benefit the Republican party as the demographic freight train comes down the track. Oh, and McCrory's something of a coward, too, which "brings him into line" with his fellow Republican governors, like Scott Walker, who's busting singers up in Wisconsin. But there is, of course, no organized national effort to do these things, because we have attained the Day Of Jubilee, and race is no longer a factor in our elections.

McCrory held no public signing ceremony as he has done with other legislation. Instead, he put out written and video news releases extolling the measure. "While some will try to make this seem to be controversial, the simple reality is that requiring voters to provide a photo ID when they vote is a common-sense idea," McCrory said. "This new law brings our state in line with a majority of other states throughout the country."